The Supreme Court has affirmed the victory of Governor-elect of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke as the authentic candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the July 16 gubernatorial election in the state.
A five-man panel of the apex court affirmed Adeleke’s victory on Thursday.
A PDP aspirant, Prince Oyedotun Babayemi, had lodged an appeal against Adeleke with the Supreme Court after losing at the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal.
The Herald recalls that two factions of the PDP in Osun each produced Adeleke and Babayemi as governorship candidates after conducting separate primaries on March 8.
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Babayemi subsequently approached the Federal High Court to recognise him as the authentic candidate of the PDP for the gubernatorial election.
In a judgement delivered on May 18, Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of the FHC dismissed the suit, ruling that the primary election that produced Babayemi was null and void.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure affirmed the lower court’s judgement on July 20.
Dissatisfied with the appeal court’s judgement, Babayemi appealed to the apex court.
However, counsel to the appellant, Mr. Adebayo Adelodun SAN withdrew his appeal after one of the Supreme Court justices, Amina Augie, pointed out that it was statute-barred.
According to the Longman Business Dictionary, a statute barred legal action is one which cannot be brought to trial in a civil court because too much time has passed.
The five-man panel noted that the appeal was filed outside the 14-day period provided by law.
Meanwhile, the 2023 presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has congratulated Adeleke on his victory at the apex court.
“Congratulations, Gov-elect Adeleke, on your latest victory at the Supreme Court.
“Slowly but surely, all obstacles are being degraded towards your inauguration,” Atiku wrote on Facebook.